I presume these are 'Cross my palm with silver' type Shamans (?) - maybe that's a tad cynical. Ireland has a rich history of story-tellers and mystics. My mother tells the story of a wart she had on one of her fingers which she'd had for years and had given up trying to get rid of, as it refused to budge. Then one day she was seeing her doctor but instead of her usual man it was a locum. After he had sorted out whatever problem she went in for, he mentioned her wart. Mother told her story and then the doctor said he would buy it off her. He offered no explanation but told my mother to give him a few pence - like 2p or something, just a token payment. Mother thought nothing of it but gave him the money and went home. A few weeks later the wart had gone...
My mother is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and people in her village would come to her when she was a girl to get warts cured and so on. She says that worms die if she puts them in the palm of her hands, but she never did it. The shamans here are full on Mongolian-style going into trances and having spirits enter them. Not sure of they cure warts or not . . . . :)
Wow. Seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. What a great lineage. You kind of feel it's only right she should have *some* special powers. Pity about the worms though I'm glad she doesn't practice that. When I was a teenager and going fishing we'd go down to the end of the garden and dig for worms as bait. In no time at all we'd have a couple of jam jars full. Nowadays there's hardly any to be found.
Ah the old trance thing. Speaking in tongues and what have you. Good theatre, if nothing else.
You have Shamans?
ReplyDeleteThere are so many you have to spray for them.
DeleteI presume these are 'Cross my palm with silver' type Shamans (?) - maybe that's a tad cynical. Ireland has a rich history of story-tellers and mystics. My mother tells the story of a wart she had on one of her fingers which she'd had for years and had given up trying to get rid of, as it refused to budge. Then one day she was seeing her doctor but instead of her usual man it was a locum. After he had sorted out whatever problem she went in for, he mentioned her wart. Mother told her story and then the doctor said he would buy it off her. He offered no explanation but told my mother to give him a few pence - like 2p or something, just a token payment. Mother thought nothing of it but gave him the money and went home. A few weeks later the wart had gone...
ReplyDeleteMy mother is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and people in her village would come to her when she was a girl to get warts cured and so on. She says that worms die if she puts them in the palm of her hands, but she never did it.
DeleteThe shamans here are full on Mongolian-style going into trances and having spirits enter them. Not sure of they cure warts or not . . . . :)
Wow. Seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. What a great lineage. You kind of feel it's only right she should have *some* special powers. Pity about the worms though I'm glad she doesn't practice that. When I was a teenager and going fishing we'd go down to the end of the garden and dig for worms as bait. In no time at all we'd have a couple of jam jars full. Nowadays there's hardly any to be found.
DeleteAh the old trance thing. Speaking in tongues and what have you. Good theatre, if nothing else.
By mother I meant stepmother. No powers coming my way, sadly.
DeleteThe ceremonies put on by the shamans are quite a show.